Facebook rumored to be in talks to buy Face.com

Deal for Israel-based facial-recognition technology company is said to be valued between $80 million and $100 million.

Facebook is in negotiations to acquire facial-recognition technology company Face.com, according to a report from Israeli business publication Calcalist (Google Translate).

The social-networking giant is said to be offering $80 million to $100 million, according to a report on Newsgeek.

CNET has contacted Facebook for comment and will update this report when we learn more.

The technology made a splash in 2009 when it released Photo Tagger, a free third-party application for Facebook that uses facial recognition technology to automatically tag photos of people, as well as a recognition-based alert service for Facebook. In 2010, Face.comreleased an open API to the public that allows third-party developers to incorporate the technology in their apps.

The social network has previously been rumored to be interested in buying the Israeli startup but was reportedly rebuffed due to low offers.

However, the company hasn't had much trouble spending money lately. Since it bought photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 billion in April, the company has embarked on a shopping spree,snapping up social-discovery service Glancee and social-gifting company Karma -- for undisclosed amounts.